Outer Rim Redemption
by Michael The-Zorch Haney
Summary: Stolen from his home and forced into a life of darkness, a young man seeks a life of redemption as a Bounty Hunter with a conscience to make amends. Prequel to "Nindo of the Force".
1. Chapter 1

_**Disclaimer**_

 _All characters under copyright in this derivative work are used according to Fair Use as described in Sections 107-118 of the US Copyright Act of 1971. This derivative work is offered as-is for free, no copyright infringement was intended in the making of this derivative work. All copyrighted characters are the property of their respective companies. This derivative work is under Creative Commons Sharealike Noncommercial Unported License 3.0._

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Michael "TheZorch" Haney

" **Outer Rim Redemption"**

A "Nindo of the Force" Sidestory

Ranma's eyes shot open. He had that same dream again.

It was a typical running dream, one of those where you run faster and faster but don't really get anywhere. He was trying to run to his father, trying to warn him. Trying to make him look back to see the cloaked figure behind him. It always ended the same way. Why? Was he being punished for some reason or was he being taught a lesson that he simply wasn't getting? He wanted to forget that day, the day his life as he knew it then ended.

He climbed out of his bunk, which was actually a repurposed equipment bay. His private quarters were small and spartan, on the road he never really owned too many things. In the years since that never really changed, though most of his possessions were stored somewhere else. He never felt the need to put them on display or have them cluttering up his room. He was fine with the few things had had and everything in his room had a purpose for being there. The small private refresher was the one minor luxury that he gave himself, he entered it via a small sliding door next to his bunk.

Ranma splashed cold water on his face from the sink, it wasn't enough to trigger the curse. He had long ago learned what its threshold was. He looked at himself in the mirror, turned his head side to side, for a moment he considered shaving but decided against it. He was older now, no longer a kid, what innocence as a teenager he had died years ago. He had haunted eyes, the eyes of a man who saw too much, who knew the depths of darkness and lived to climb out of it. Though he no longer celebrated his birthday he did keep track, he was 28 now. No longer a boy but still young, yet he felt so very old.

The door to his quarters was a simple sliding panel with an improvised locking mechanism. He rarely needed to use it. Beyond his room was a circular common area that could accommodate several people, but he was the only person here. Well, that wasn't entirely true, there was someone else here. He sat at the large round table that dominated the circular room. Before him, spread out on parchment paper were the parts for a long barreled gas charged slug thrower. Each part was meticulously laid out in logical, neat orderly rows. Laid out next to the parts were various tools and cleaning implements.

"What are you doing?" Ranma asked.

The droid looked up, its red optics focusing on him. "Weapon maintenance, something you should really take more seriously, master."

The droid gestured to a storage cabinet set in the wall. "Speaking of which, I took the liberty of cleaning and recalibrating your blasters."

Ranma frowned, "You didn't touch..."

The droid raised a hand, "I wouldn't dream of it, master, I know how touchy you are about it. It is still where you last left it." Ranma went to the cabinet and there it was where he left it. He didn't know why he made a new one. He got rid of the old one, was happy he no longer had it, but he went and made a new one anyway. Getting the kyber crystal for it wasn't that hard. Actually, you don't find them, they find you. In fact, it was the crystal he found first, and completely by accident, or at least that is what Ranma tells himself. Where the Force was concerned, there were no coincidences though. The design he used for this lightsaber was based on the handle of a samurai sword. It was different from the last one, more elegant, less industrial. The old one had a red blade, this one was white. He didn't know why that was.

Next to the lightsaber, affixed to their leather holsters, were Yin and Yang his blasters. If he were still alive, his father would have a conniption fit if he saw him using guns. But, they were a necessary evil in his line of work. Ranma still had his martial arts, he's added to his repertoire of techniques over the years, but there were times when getting in close enough to land a punch wasn't an option. Anything Goes didn't forego or ban the use of weapons. On the contrary, in Anything Goes "anything" can become a weapon, it was the "dependence" on them that was banned. Fighting styles like kendo had a fatal flaw if you take away the sword and unless the swordsman had another martial art to fall back on they were helpless. The same thing applied to Juyo, he never mentioned that to his old master. It would have been a bad idea, so he devised his own counter to that vulnerability. In secret, of course, had his master learned what he was doing it would have been unpleasant. Those thoughts brought a memory back to him, one from a time Ranma would rather forget.

"Get up! Try again!"

Ranma struggled to his feet. Repeated hits by the remote's zapper wreaked havoc on his nervous system. Back on his feet, he turned to his master, he hated him, hated him more than he hated anyone ever in his entire life. Yet, it was his duty to learn and be obedient to his master until he had nothing more to teach him. Then he could kill him. He saw the smile on his master's face, he knew he was thinking about it. The smile was brief on the Twi'lek's face, however.

"Focus, apprentice," snarled Darth Tormentus. "Reach out with your feelings boy, anticipate the movements of the remote. Begin!"

The moment the words left his master's lips the remote went zipping around the arena. Ranma ignited the crimson blade of his lightsaber and did as he was instructed. He let his hatred and rage flow between him and the remote. Two quick zaps, he deflected these with ease. The remote zigged and zagged performing a faint and let loose three zaps. Ranma could "feel" them, his hand moved almost of its own accord, and he deflected the first two, but he was trained to always be in control. He didn't like it when his body did something on its own and so lost focus and the last zap hit him on the shoulder. At least it didn't knock him down this time, but the force push from his master certainly did.

"The Force guides your hand, why do you keep insisting on resisting it!" his master was furious.

Tormentus smiled then, a thought must have come to his twisted mind. "Perhaps, I should take inspiration from your late father's training style. It is obvious to me that you don't consider the remote that much of a challenge, so you aren't really taking this seriously enough." He then gestured to four armored guards who were stationed at the arena's entrance.

"Set your blasters to kill, the man who lands a shot on my apprentice gets three months of pay in advance and a whole week with the pleasure girl of his choice." the four guards without any hesitation or question raised their weapons. Ranma quickly jumped to his feet, he knew better than to plead with his master for mercy. Mercy was a concept Darth Tormentus did not understand.

"Fire!" Ranma managed to dodge the first two blaster bolts. He ignited his lightsaber and again reached out with the Force. He deflected an incoming blast, then another, then he felt that uncomfortable feeling of his body moving but not where he told it to. It was the Force. This time was different, this wasn't the remote shooting harmless electrical shocks. These were lethal blaster bolts. The holes they left in the plasteel floor and walls of the arena were demonstration enough. For a brief instant, Ranma contemplated letting one of those bolts hit him. It would end this suffering, this nightmare of an existence, but then he remembered his father. A rage filled him. If he died now, he would not be able to get revenge. So, Ranma did the one thing that was anathema to his training, he let go of his control and gave himself to fully to the Force. To the Dark Side.

At first, he simply deflected the blasts away from him, but then he started experimenting with deflecting them in a specific direction. If he angled his lightsaber just right he could send the blaster bolts back where they came from. It didn't take him long to zero in on his first target. The first guard in the row doubled over, his own blaster bolt hit him in the chest. The other three scattered but kept shooting. This only raised the difficulty but Ranma never backed down from a challenge. Another guard soon fell then there were two, then one, and finally the one also fell from a direct hit to the head. Ranma stopped, panting for air, he felt exhausted. He had survived.

Then, he was up off the floor, throat constricting. He gasped for air. His master stood before him, hand outstretched, "The next time you fail to perform to the same degree as you did just now in our training, I will kill you. Do we have an understanding, Vindictus?" He nodded, and the Sith Lord dropped him to the floor.

"Hello, master. Master, master, hello!"

"What!?" he whirled on the droid, who didn't look cowed in the slightest.

"You were gone there for a minute or two," he explained. "Were you having one of those force visions? I've heard of those, not a good omen especially for us about to begin a new mission."

With a grunt of anger, more at himself than the droid, Ranma slammed the cabinet shut. He went around the room to the cold storage bin and pulled out a bottle of Jawa juice. He never stomached alcohol and the last time he allowed himself to get drunk, he woke up female and naked and no memory of the night before. And, he preferred it stay that way. Though he wasn't a virgin anymore and enjoyed a good romp with a pleasure girl or two, or three, now and then, there were things even he wouldn't do. At least, he never allowed himself to be in a desperate enough situation where he was forced to do it. Few knew of his curse, and he liked it that way.

"What mission?" he took a seat not far from where the droid was cleaning his rifle. He was K8T0 but Ranma called him Kato. He was a reprogrammed Sith assassin droid. The reprogramming had weird side effects on Kato's personality which was still somewhat bloodthirsty and he had a biting wit.

If the droid had been capable of rolling its optic sensors it would. "Why are you meat bags so forgetful?" Kato tapped a control on the table and a holographic image of an alien appeared above it. Ranma didn't remember the name of the race, but it was ugly though. Looks like a humanoid with skin so wrinkly it looked like a raisin.

"His name is Vagas Nando," Kato said. "This meat bag was a small time spice smuggler in the outer rim. Apparently, he had a rather over-inflated opinion of himself."

Ranma gave a bored wavy, "How so?"

"He convinced the Black Sun that he was someone of some repute in the galactic underworld and they loaned him a rather large sum of money to smuggle spice into the Coruscant system."

Ranma looked at him, shocked. "The Coruscant system, the most heavily guarded system in the entire galaxy. Was he stupid?" It has been many years since the Liberation of Coruscant. A new Republic had recently been established, the army of the previous Republic was disbanded and the Jedi were falling into the role as keepers of the peace. The Sith, by all accounts, were now extinct, but there were still many Dark Jedi on the loose.

Kato nodded, "Yes, as meat bags go this one is rated on the higher end of the stupidity scale. When a Jedi patrol announced they intended to come aboard and inspect his cargo, he panicked. Vagas jettisoned his entire load of spice and jumped out of the system. The Black Sun, of course, weren't impressed so they put a rather sizable bounty on his head. They want him dead or alive, but preferably dead and in several pieces knowing them."

Ranma dropped his head to the table and sighed, "That means everybody and their pet womp rat is going to be after this asshole. We got any ideas of where he might be hiding out?" Kato nodded, which didn't come as a surprise to Ranma. Assassin droids were methodical when it came to gathering information on their targets. They were masters at learning the habits of those they were sent to eliminate.

"It is not generally well know, but Vagas has some connection with the Grey Hand, a notorious clan of Tusken Raiders on Tatooine," Kato explained. "If he is still in their good graces, he might run to them for a place to hide." Ranma had been to Tatooine before, he didn't like the planet. It smelled, it was too hot, and the sand got into everything. One day, in Anchorhead, he hired a pleasure girl, only to discover she worked for some of the local scum. Rather than lead him to something more private, she walked him into an ambush. They tried to rob him, emphasis on the word 'tried". The whole thing left a bad taste in his mouth, and for a Twi'lek she wasn't even that pretty.

"Only the foolish scam the Black Sun, they won't stop hunting him," said Ranma. "Who are we grabbing him for, the Coruscant magistrate or the Jedi?" Ranma had nothing against the Jedi, he just didn't like their ideology. Their beliefs were a bit too rigid even compared to bushido. Though he was a force user he wasn't much into religion.

"The Coruscant magistrate," said Kato. "Vagas was carrying quite a load, the street value of the spice he jettisoned is estimated to be in the hundreds of millions, so they want him alive, unfortunately. They'll pay thirty million for him, only if he's delivered in one piece. But where is the fun in that?"

Ranma mulled all this information over for a moment, then said, "Finish up here, then prep the Beauty for a jump to Tatooine. I'd like our stay there to be as short as possible." He left the droid to finish his work and went to a ladder set in a recess in the wall. This lead to the cockpit, the ship was an old Corellian freighter Heavily modified with weapons, reinforced shields, and a better hyperdrive. Ranma "acquired" the ship from its former owner, a Rodian smuggler, on his second outing as a bounty hunter in the outer rim. He didn't know the ship's original name, he renamed it the Black Beauty. As a kid, he and his father stayed in a small town somewhere outside Hiroshima and the local TV station played reruns of the Green Hornet. He liked the show because it had Bruce Lee in it. He named the ship after the main protagonist's car. The named the attached shuttle Sting.

He slipped into the co-pilot seat. He knew how to fly, he had to learn out of necessity, so he could easily fly the Beauty if he wanted to. He preferred to let Kato do it so he could meditate before missions. It was calming, the droid was an excellent pilot so he didn't have to worry. The canopy bubble gave him a good view of the outside. Rarely did he ever spend a long time docked at a port or on a planet. Right now, the Beauty was in his favorite place, a massive crimson cloud of dust and gas. Nearby stars made the gas of the nebula shine a deep red which darkened in places. One would think, given his background, he would try to seek out places that were cheery, but he liked it here. The dark colors were actually calming, they helped him focus. He found this place years ago, nobody ever came here. Not even smugglers, the location wasn't near any major trade routes either.

The Black Beauty didn't just float in space out in the open. Deep within the nebula, Ranma found an old wreck. It was ancient, undisturbed for thousands of years. The Beauty was attached to the derelict via a magnetic grapple, to any passing ships that might come here, she would look like just a part of the hull. It wasn't that he wanted to avoid people but he had a reputation and his ship was easily recognized by people who moved in certain circles. The presence of the Black Beauty in a system made those certain people very nervous. He was not a killer, he didn't go out of his way to avoid killing he just didn't kill indiscriminately. This annoyed Kato to no end. Never did he take a life frivolously. There was a time when he would kill without hesitation when he was driven by his rage, but there came a day when he chose to not to kill. That day changed his life.

Darth Vindictus, formerly Ranma Saotome, apprentice to Darth Tormentus ran in search of his master. Sounds of explosions and sirens rang out all across this region of Coruscant. The defense had broken, the troops were in a panic. The Jedi were coming, he had to find his master. He could feel him in the Force and soon found him talking to a high ranking officer. What he heard didn't sound good.

"The emperor's flagship went down in the first exchange," the officer said. "Lord Ulek has assumed command of all remaining forces. She's ordering a full retreat from the system. We are to regroup at Ziost."

Ranma could see his master was fuming, "Where are the rest of our forces?"

The officer looked apologetic, "The majority are scattered, isolated, many have joined up with Lord Ulek, others have already fled the system with Lord Bane on Lord Ulek's orders. We no longer have enough forces to hold the planet."

"Are you telling me that we've been completely routed!?" he could see the shock and disbelief on the Sith Lord's face.

"We had enough forces to repel any assault, how did this happen?" his master moved up to the officer menacingly forcing the man to step back nervously.

The officer swallowed, "My lord, there have been reports of Mandalorians fighting alongside Republic troops. Just prior to the Republic and Jedi fleets jumping into the system, all orbital defense system went offline." His master gasped, shocked at this turn of events.

"We've been betrayed," Darth Tormentus snarled. "Damn House Vizla, damn them all!"

"Lord Tormentus, you are the last surviving high ranking commander on the planet, what are your orders?" the officer saluted, probably thankful that Tormentus didn't kill him for being the bringer of bad news.

Darth Tormentus composed himself and ordered through clenched teeth, "Rally all remaining forces in the area to staging area B, we will withdraw." The officer saluted then turned and ran off to begin putting the orders into motion. Ranma walked up slowly to his master and waited for him to speak.

"Come with me." the Dark Lord of the Sith turned and Ranma followed. He followed his master into one of the larger slave quarters. There Ranma saw hundreds of people, humans and aliens alike, all cowering and huddle together. The Sith Lord ignited his lightsaber and turned to face him.

"We cannot leave these spoils of war behind for the Jedi," his master looked at him with cold eyes. "Their corpses will be a message, kill them, all of them, even the younglings." Without hesitation, Ranma ignited his lightsaber and advanced on his first victims. They were a woman and her child, they hugged one another. Upon hearing his master's words the slaves began to scream in panic. Something deep within Ranma stirred, he couldn't raise his blade to strike this woman and her child down. A near eternity passed as he watched them, tears streaming down their faces, then he heard a voice. A voice he barely remembered, one had hadn't heard in a very long time.

"Boy, remember, it is the duty of martial artists to defend the weak." They were his father's words, spoken to him when he was just a small child. That memory made something well up from deep inside, it pushed away his anger, the hate, the fear. Tears streamed down Ranma's face blurring his vision. The woman, still holding her child, looked up at him with pleading eyes and a look of frightened confusion. Ranma stood for a long moment, it seemed like an eternity, then everything came back into sharp focus and he knew exactly what he had to do.

His blade did come down, but at the last moment he shifted its direction and the crimson blade cut into his master's side. Tormentus's eyes went wide with shock. The Sith Lord gargled what might have been a curse, but the light soon faded from those cruel eyes and his former master fell to the ground his body cleaved in half. The slaves began to stand up, they looked at him and his master in shocked disbelief. The woman and her child were also standing now, looking at him in what was almost terrified awe.

"Remain here, you will be safe," he said before turning to leave. His face, set in a resolute mask, Ranma stalked his way to staging area B where the remaining forces where gathering for the final withdraw. The officer saw him and came running up to him to give him a report on their progress. What he was about to say was cut off with a strangled cry as Ranma plunged his lightsaber into the officer's chest. Some of the soldiers piling into the transports at the staging area witnessed the attack and began to fire at him. Ranma deflected the incoming blaster bolts with casual ease. Using the Force, he ran, closing the distance between himself and the armor Sith troops. Without mercy, without regret, without any emotion, Ranma cut them down one by one. Some he sent flying off the staging area platform to their deaths with a force push. A few of the transports tried to take off. Ranma reached out and with the Force caused one to collide with another causing a great explosion. Two managed to get away, there were still many on the ground with troops inside of them. Pilots desperately tried to start their engines to lift off, Ranma force choked some of them. Time lost all meaning as he slaughtered the rest, Ranma left no Sith soldier alive. When it was over he fell to his knees and remained that way until the Jedi found him.

After many days and many questions, the Jedi let him go. Master Nino Kahn was the most outspoken proponent for his release. Apparently, the slaves whose lives he saved by killing his master had all spoken on his behalf. The decision to release him finally came when he formally renounced the Sith teachings and took back his birth name. He urged the Jedi to destroy his lightsaber, the symbol of what he had become. Of what the Sith had turned him into after he was stolen away from his homeworld. Master Kahn had given him some money, a change of clothes, and put him on a civilian transport to one of the least damaged residential sections of Coruscant. Three years later, he was on level 1313 chasing down wanted criminals and earning money from cashing in on their bounties. That was how his life as a Sith ended and his life as a bounty hunter began.

The Black Beauty emerged from hyperspace in the Tatooine system. The twin suns cast their light into the cockpit canopy forcing Ranma to push his hat down over his eyes. He looked at the desert world from below the rim of his hat. The planet was the same as it was when he last visited here years ago. The only major settlement on the planet was Anchorhead, officially. There were smaller undocumented settlements and moisture farms. Water was a precious commodity on the desert planet. Slavery was also growing to become a big business in the outer rim.

"The Grey Hand's territory is east of Anchorhead and south of the Dune Sea." Kato brought the Beauty into low orbit over the planet.

"It isn't too large, I'm hoping." Ranma didn't like methodical searches, especially on worlds he was none too fond of and he was very not fond of Tatooine.

"I'm afraid it is, master." Ranma rolled his eyes but Kato gestured that he had more to say.

"However, there is one place where he is likely hiding," Kato said. "The Rift, its an ancient lava dome riddled with huge cracks forming natural caves, tunnels, and caverns. The Grey Hand used it as a shelter for generations because it was so defensible." Ranma had seen similar places on other worlds, they did make good hiding places and some were even turned into small fortresses by various crime lords.

"Why do you think he's there?" he asked the droid.

"Vagas is a coward, master." replied the droid.

"There is a ninety percent probability that he is there," Kato explained. "The Rift is very defensible, there are only two ways in or out. That's from the ground, now if you were a force user who could jump really high you could get in via one of the natural skylights in one of the many caverns."

"Alright already, get us down there so we can get this over with." Ranma groused.

 **To be continued...**


	2. Chapter 2

_View Chapter 1 for Copyright and Fair Use Disclaimer_

 _(Grammar & Spelling checked by Grammarly)_

 **OooooooooooooooooooooO**

Michael "TheZorch" Haney

" **Outer Rim Redemption"**

 **OooooooooooooooooooooO**

 **Sixteen Years Ago, Planet Earth**

"Hurry up, boy!" read the panda's sign.

"I think we lost her, pops!"

"We thought that two nights ago, then look what happened!" the panda flipped the sign around.

The forest floor was littered with fallen trees, but for them, that was no impediment. Ranma and his father were able to leap over the fallen and partially fallen logs with ease. The underbrush was tricky though, it was full of snags which caught on their pant legs, threatened to trip them. They'd been on the run since leaving the Amazon Village after Ranma received the Kiss of Death from Shampoo. That had been five days ago and they were running on two and half night's sleep. For them, though, that was nothing. They'd been forced to go with less sleep before, but this time they were being pushed. Ranma wasn't too winded but he had balance issues because of "her" chest. "She" wasn't used to the weight nor how it bounced and swayed freely with her every movement throwing her center of gravity all over the place. Ranma hated this curse but at least this was good balance training. Her father, though, stuck in panda form wasn't looking too good. His fur was wet and matted and he was panting from the heat. They were able to heat up some water a couple of nights ago but in the mountain forests of China, rainfalls were frequent.

"What do you think that sound was last night?" Ranma asked.

They didn't bother setting up the tents and slept on the ground so they could just get up and continue running at sun up. In the middle of the night, they were woken by a loud noise. A sonic boom or a clap of thunder, but it wasn't raining. Then, there was a streak of light and the explosion. At sunrise when they awoke, they started their run and in the distance, they could see a pillar of black smoke. Ranma hoped they wouldn't have to run through a forest fire. That might slow Shampoo down but it would also make their trip to civilization longer if they had to go around it.

"A plane crash?" the panda flashed his sign.

Ranma looked towards the pillar of smoke, "That didn't look like no plane."

What met them when they arrived at the site was not any kind of airplane they'd ever seen. The vehicle, if it was a vehicle, hadn't crashed at all. It was sitting on what looked like landing gear. It looked as if the trees and thick brush had been burned away to make room. It was oddly shaped like a wedge, almost like a flying wing but more elongated than wide. The smoke came from craters scattered around the forest floor where the trees and underbrush had been burned away.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," said Ranma.

Her father flipped up his sign, "They must be firefighters, come on boy!" Genma jumped out into the scorched clearing and headed towards the strange craft. Something inside Ranma, something she couldn't describe, was screaming at her to run away.

"That doesn't look like a fire truck," she warned.

"Nonsense, maybe they can give us a ride into town." Genma flipped his sign again and ran off towards the odd craft.

"Pops, I really think this is a bad idea," Ranma said but followed him anyway.

If he was walking into trouble she was going to have to drag him out of it. They made a circle around the "vehicle", it was definitely not a fire truck or an airplane or a helicopter. Ranma had a good notion of what it was but that seemed impossible. Or was it? She was the living embodiment of impossible, the subject of a curse, a real honest to goodness curse. A curse that turned "him" into "her" with nothing but cold water. If curses were real then so could this and that scared her on so many levels.

"Pop, I think we really need to get out of here like now!" Ranma warned him.

The panda was trying to climb one of the landing gear legs when there came a hissing sound from under the craft. Ranma instinctively fell into a fighting stance while Genma jumped down. A ramp dropped down from the middle underside of the vehicle. Ranma was at a bad angle to see what was inside but that inner voice was screaming at her to run away even louder now.

"Let's ask them for a ride into town," Genma raised a sign, growled, then walked towards the ramp.

"Dammit, Pops, you aren't listening…" her words were cut off by the appearance of a figure on the ramp. It was clothed from head to foot in a black cowl and cloak. It was definitely a person because it walked on two legs and it approached Genma who stood at the bottom of the ramp.

The panda, standing it his hinds legs, held up a sign to the cloaked figure. It didn't seem to acknowledge this at all. Instead, the cloaked figure produced a short silver rod in one hand. It made a sound unlike anything Ranma had ever heard before and from the rod came a red shaft of light. Ranma recognized a weapon when she saw one. She yelled a warning to her father and tried to run to his aid, but the cloaked figure simple flicked its hand in her direction and Ranma felt herself leave off the ground. She was thrown backward with great force but didn't feel anything hit her at all.

Genma may have been stupid but he wasn't so thick as to not know when he was in mortal danger. The man turned panda tried to jump away from this cloaked figure, but he found himself mysteriously rooted to the ground. He couldn't move, he was helpless to get away as that crimson weapon swung at his head. Ranma got back to her feet just in time to watch the horrific event. She watched in disbelief as his oversized, furry body slumped to the forest floor and his head rolled in a different direction.

What came up from Ranma's throat sounded more like the cry of a wounded animal than a cry of despair. Her mind was overwhelmed by grief and rage. With a wild snarl, Ranma darted forward at a speed that would have amazed even her had she been of sound enough mind to notice. But, again the dark figure flicked its hand in her direction and she was once again thrown back. This time, she hit a tree so hard she nearly passed out.

Through blurry vision, Ranma noticed a second figure descend from the ramp. This one, like the first, was dressed in dark cloak but the head was uncovered. That face was almost human but Ranma knew it wasn't human at all. Humans do have long tentacles growing out of the back of their heads. As impossible as it seemed these two were aliens, hostile aliens.

Very few things frightened Ranma Saotome. Only one thing in all the world terrified her, but the fear that gripped her now was on another level. She tried to move, tried to run, but that invisible force that threw her into the tree was still holding her. The alien, the creature that killed her father, was right in front of her now. She could see under its hood, the face wasn't human at all. It wore what looked like a strange gas mask and tight-fitting goggles, and its head was a bulbous mass. It definitely wasn't human. Without any hint of emotion, the alien lifted the glowing crimson sword as if to strike her down.

"This is it, this is how I die?" Ranma asked herself. She didn't close her eyes, though, despite the terror she would not break her gaze with her killer. She couldn't move so this was the only way she could show defiance. Ranma Saotome would not give up and die a coward's death.

The alien with the tentacled head spoke a strange melodious language Ranma had never heard before and the alien in front of her hesitated. It replied in that same tongue, its voice muffled slightly by the heavy mask over its face. The tentacle head was next to her now. It reached out with a hand with five fingers and grabbed her face by the chin. It spoke to her but she did not understand its words. Then, she felt something touch her mind, she panicked and tried to resist. The tentacle head smiled and said something. With a frustrated sigh, the masked alien deactivated its weapon and turned for the ramp.

The tentacle-headed alien had saved her life. Why? She didn't have long to ponder as she felt another push against her mind so powerful she blacked out. When next she opened her eyes, her world would never be the same again…

 **OooooooooooO**

 **Chapter 2**

Tatooine.

According to old folklore, the planet was once lush like Alderaan and Naboo but that was so long ago there were no written records of the time just stories told to children by old people who had nothing else better to do. For eons, people tried to exploit the planet for its meager resources, but the harsh conditions of the surface made colonization difficult. Off and on for thousands of years, the only permanent settlement was Anchorhead. The only valuable export from this dry desert world is Dilarium Oil and Silicax Oxalate. Not the most valuable export in the galaxy, which is why Anchorhead changed hands so often.

Ranma wasn't interested in the history of Tatooine. He didn't like the planet. It was too damn hot, he didn't like coming here except on business. Vagas Nando was a small time spice smuggler with a very over-inflated opinion of his importance. He somehow convinced the Black Sun he was a big deal in the underworld and they gave him a lot of money to smuggle spice to Coruscant. This, of course, ended badly. The Coruscant system was heavily defended in the aftermath of the Sith Occupation and the subsequent end of the Jedi-Sith War. Upon being discovered, Vagas dumped his cargo and ran. Ranma didn't know how much Vagas cost the Black Sun but it was enough for them to issue a death warrant. Every scumbag in the galaxy was now hunting his smelly hide for a handful of credits.

But, Ranma was the only one who knew where he was.

Or, at least, that's what his droid Kato told him. Landing at Anchorhead would be a rookie mistake. The place was likely being watched. The moment someone saw Vagas he'd be dead and Ranma would be out a very valuable bounty. So, he directed Kato to land in a sheltered valley south of the settlement. The lower hold of the Black Beauty was large enough to hold a small speeder. It was basically a speeder bike with a sidecar. There was an extra seat behind the driver that Ranma used when the sidecar was occupied. Kato usually did all of the driving. After latching on his sniper rifle, the droid straddled the seat and they were off.

"The Rift is several kilometers from here, master." the droid said. The Rift was an old sheltering place for the Tusken Raiders who were natives of the desert planet. A nomadic people, the Tusken had various places where they could shelter and ride out the planet's frequent and dangerous dust storms. Vagas had close ties to a Tusken clan called the Grey Hand and The Rift was one of their favorites places to camp during their nomadic treks.

"Get within a kilometer and we'll go the rest of the way on foot," the sound of the speeder bike would travel a long distance here. Tatooine had no foliage to muffle noise so it would echo for a long distance. Out here, even the whirring of a utility droid's motivator would carry for kilometers. Speeder bikes weren't like the gasoline guzzlers back on earth, but they were still loud.

It didn't take long to get within sight of the Rift. The ancient lava dome sat within a caldera. They left the speeder bike behind some boulders so anyone with macrobinoculars wouldn't spot it. Ranma judged the distance to be at least three miles from where they were to the base of the lava dome. The caldera was strewn with boulders, some as big as a house, which should give them some cover. They also made for a great place to set up an ambush.

"I'll set up on that ridge master," Kato gestured toward a stone ridge which looked high enough to afford a nice view of the caldera.

"How do you plan on getting in there?" Ranma wondered about that. He spotted a number of natural skylights in the roof of the dome. From this angle, he could also one ground entrance which looked like an old lava tube. The ground entrances were likely guarded or boobytrapped.

"Just watch my back," he told the droid.

There was eerie silence in the caldera save only for the wind. Any unusual sound would care for miles and echo off the rocks, so Ranma trod as lightly as possible. This is where his training came into play. His father taught him a long time ago how to run through a forest without many any sound, even when there were dry leaves on the ground. Here there were no dry leaves but the floor of the caldera was covered in loose pebbles.

Anyone could be watching the surrounding area from the cracks and crevices of the lava dome, so Ranma took his time and stayed behind cover as much as he could. Where he was out in the open he used Force enhanced speed while treading softly so as not to kick up any dust. It took longer than he would have liked to reach the base of the lava dome but it was better to do this right than to bumble his way in and be spotted by somebody. He knew he might eventually need a distraction, so Ranma planted a remote thermal detonator in a sandy area next to a boulder. It wouldn't do much damage out here but it would make a lot of noise and that was the point.

"I'm in position, master," Kato announced over the comlink in his ear.

"Do you see any guards on the roof of the dome?" Ranma whispered into the pickup in his jacket collar.

"So far, I only see two meat bags but they are far from your position." Ranma wasn't about to assume there weren't more, so he proceeded with caution. Silent as death, he made a few Force enhanced leaps that got him about half way up the lava dome. The rest of the way as too steep to safely jump so he'd have to climb. Luckily there were plenty of natural handholds for him to use.

The rock here slanted outwards slightly as if the lava had bubbled outward before cooling. He was almost back to a more stable ground when he heard Kato's warning.

"Hold there, Master," he was about to ask when he heard the faint pop of the droid's rifle. An instant later he heard the sound of a slug penetrating flash, a muffled grunt, and then the sound of a body hitting the rocks.

"It's clear now," he finished the climb and just above him there was a ledge. That's where the guard had been. The alien now lay slumped against the rocks with a nice hole in his forehead and yellow blood trickling down its face. Ranma had never seen this particular race before. There were so many races in the galaxy he doubted anyone knew them all.

The roof of the Rift gently sloped from here so it was easy going, but Ranma kept his senses keenly tuned on his surroundings. Sure enough, there were a few natural skylights in the lava dome. Most were above the lava tube he'd seen at ground level. After about an hour he made his way further about a quarter of the way to the middle. That's when he started to hear voices, one of the skylights opened into a large cavern.

"You are out of visual range now, master," Kato warned him.

"Get to the speeder and wait for my signal," he whispered, then looked for a way down that wouldn't give away his position.

There appeared to be a natural shelf along the edge of the skylight. Ranma reached this easily, now he was able to see into the cavern. It was definitely set up to be a temporary settlement. He didn't see any Sand People walking around. The only occupants at the moment were a handful of your typical thugs and among them stood Vagas himself. The spice smuggler was diminutive, not much taller than a Jawa but his voice was deep.

"Those kriffing Jedi," he heard the smuggler ranted, the alien was clearly drunk.

"Nobody knows about this place, boss, maybe in a few weeks this will all blow over then we can pay back what we owe and…" Vagas moved surprisingly fast for his size and tackled the thug that was talking.

"Have the twin suns baked out your brains," he throttled the thug, a Weequay from looks of him. "This is the Black kriffing Sun we're talking about. They never forgive, they never forget. I can never, ever again show my face in any populated port in the entire galaxy without getting it shot off!"

Ranma counted at least six thugs, all carrying blasters. Six wouldn't be a problem, not for him. Over the years, Ranma wouldn't let his training fall behind. He learned Stava, Echani, evenTeräs Käsi. Taking on six opponents at once, armed or otherwise, wasn't a challenge. However, he wanted to be in and out quickly. It was only a matter of time before someone came looking for Vagas on Tatooine. He had to assume somebody by now found out about his connection with the Grey Hand. Before he had to take his time to avoid being seen, now was a different story.

He pulled the detonator remote from a pocket and tapped the contact, "Karabast! What was that?" One of the thugs whirled around towards the direction of the explosion.

"Go check it out, you nerf herders!" Vagas was wide-eyed now and rubbing his hands. The little smuggler was having a panic attack. The thugs ran off leaving him alone with only the dim lighted cavern. Ranma made his move.

As he landed on the cavern floor, his Force enhances senses warned Ranma that he miscounted how many thugs guarding Vagas. There had been eight, two stayed behind to guard their boss. He didn't give them time to raise their blasters. Swift as the wind and silent as death he took both down before Vagas even knew he was there. By the time he did, Ranma was already next to him. The small smuggler pulled out a tiny holdout pistol but Ranma just snatched it out of his hand and tossed it aside.

"Don't kill me, I can pay you twice what they're paying you!" the smuggler pleaded.

Ranma smirked, "With what money." He had to admit, Vagas had some serious balls to use that tactic knowing full well he couldn't deliver, or maybe he really was that stupid.

"I...I know where you can find caches of spice," Vagas told him.

"Let me guess, they belong to the Black Sun, or are you going to rip off the Pikes this time, or maybe the Hutts?" he grabbed the smuggler and lifted him off his feet.

Vagas sruggled tried to cry for help but Ranma covered his mouth, "Calm down you little creep, I don't do assassinations. I'm taking you to the authorities on Coruscant." This set the little smuggler off even more.

He was almost crying and managed to get his mouth clear, "No! Please no! I won't live to face trial, you don't know how far the Black Sun's influence stretches. I'm a dead man if you take me to Coruscant!"

Ranma rolled his eyes, "If you knew that why did you rip them off then, sleemo?" The sound of boots echoed through the cavern. The thugs heard their boss's shouts and they were came back. It was time to get going.

Ranma focuses his mind as best he could while holding onto the wriggling smuggler, then jumped. His Force enhanced leap got him to the natural shelf and another took him out of the skylight. The instant his feet hit the rocks Ranma was running. He heard more shouting, guards on the roof of the lava dome, then came the blaster fire. The shots ended abruptly after a couple of distant pops from Kato's sniper rifle.

There was no way he was going to climb down the side of the Rift holding Vagas, so Ranma ran towards the side where the dome slope more smoothly down into the caldera. It was still pretty steep so anyone else who tried to run down his slope couldn't use the Force would end up tumbling to the bottom. He recognized the sound of the speeder bike and sure enough down below was Kato waiting for them.

"I spotted multiple swoop bikes and other speeders coming around the Rift, master," Kato explained as Ranma reached the speeder. He plopped Vagas into the sidecar and bound his hands with a pair of manacles bolted to the frame.

"You've certainly kicked the chiru next," with Vagas secured Ranma mounted the bike, ignoring the droid.

"Just drive," he groused and Kato hit the throttle. They didn't get halfway out of the caldera before the first of the speeders caught up with them. Most of the "speeders" in question were haphazard throw together "frankenspeeders" made from different vehicles and aircraft. The swoop bikes were going to be a problem, they designed for speed but they weren't exactly all that maneuverable. Here in the caldera with so many boulders they were at a disadvantage but once they each the more even ground of the Dune Sea all bets were off.

Twenty vehicles were chasing them. Not all of them were on Vagas' side, however. Ranma recognized the lazily painted on insignia on some the speeders as those belonging to a gang loyal to the Black Sun. The swoop bikes belonged to another gang that occasionally did odd jobs for the criminal syndicate. The frankenspeeders belonged to Vagas' men, they were as much trying to fight each other as they were trying to get to the smuggler. Blaster bolts start whizzing by, Ranma knew they wouldn't reach the Black Beauty unless he did something.

"We're going to die!" Vagas cried. Ranma stood up on the back of the speeder bike and pushed him down into the sidecar with one foot.

"Keep your head down," he ignored the blaster fire that came within inches of his head and pulled out his lightsaber. The blade ignited, even in the bright light of the twin suns it could be seen easily glowing silver.

"Y...you...you're a Jedi?" Vagas' already wide eyes looked they were about to pop out of his head. Ranma kicked him down deep into the sidecar.

He turned to face the oncoming speeders, "I am not Jedi!"

His hand guided by the Force, Ranma defected bolt after bolt of blaster fire. At first, he was focused just on protecting them but then he started deflecting the blaster bolts back at the speeders. One defected bolt hit a swoop bike. Its nose dug into the sands and gravel, flipped, and tumbled. Other speeders that were chasing along behind it didn't have to avoid and hit the tumbling bike. Another speeder lost one of its repulsers and had to fall back. Another swoop bike went tumbling into the stand, and another frankenspeeder just exploded showering the rest with hot shrapnel and causing them to crash into one another.

Only three speeders were left. Ranma put away the lightsaber and pulled out Yin and Yang. He didn't aim for the drivers but instead hit the speeders. The three vehicles quickly dropped behind, spewing black smoke from damaged engines. Kato did the smart thing, he took an indirect course back to the Black Beauty. Once they had the speeder bike back in its bay, Ranma took Vagas to one of the cells.

"If you keep screaming or make any trouble for me," he warned the panicked smuggler. "All I have to do is push one little button and you're happy-ass is spaced. You get me?" Vagas, visibly shaking, nodded and sat down on the wall mounted cot at the back of the cell.

"Good boy," Ranma closed the door, set the lock, and want to the cockpit where Kato was already prepping the ship for launch.

"Master, that cell doesn't have an ejection system," Kato said.

Ranma locked back towards the interior of the ship, "He doesn't know that."

"Oh, that was evil, I like you, master," the rest of the trip to deliver Vagas to the authorities on Coruscant was uneventful. After arriving, he turned the smuggler into the magestrate and a nice sizable reward was transferred to account, plus a bonus for bringing Vagas in alive.

 **OooooooooooO**

 **Three Weeks Later**

The seedy bar on Dantooine wasn't that different from other seedy bars in the outer rim. It had the same seedy customers. A Toydarian named Dax ran the place, Ranma had been here before. It was an out-of-way watering hole but it was a good place to get information and learn about new bounties. The laws of the Republic didn't reach this far so they relied on people like him bring criminals to justice. Problem is, most bounty hunters worked for the syndicates too so they counted on to do assassinations too. Ranma didn't do assassinations and he didn't work for the syndicates either.

He'd been nursing the same glass of Blue Dwarf for almost an hour. The Vagas bounty gave him a nice sum of money to play around with. Even after paying for some lover overdue repairs to the Black Beauty he still had a lot left, so he had time to just relax for a while. That is unless another nice bounty fell into his lap.

This place had a Twilek pleasure girl doing the rounds. She was definitely cute and it had been a while since he had a nice tumble in the sheets. He was half tempted to hire her. His first time had been with a Twilek girl, she was one of the pleasure slaves the Sith used for troop morale. Ranma sometimes wondered whatever happened to her after the fall of the Sith. Did she get away and start a new somewhere, or was she caught up in the purge the Sith did whenever they were forced to evacuate a planet? He'd probably never know. He didn't even know what her name was.

His train of thought was interrupted when someone took the seat directly opposite him. "There you are, you are quite the difficult man to find, Ranma Saotome."

The man was a Zabrak but didn't wear the traditional face paint his people were best known for. He a simple gray, well-kept robe, and looked completely unassuming. Under that robe, he knew the man carried a lightsaber.

"You're far from home, Master Jedi," he greeted the man. His name was Nino Kahn, a member of the Jedi High Council and the person responsible for his current freedom.

The Jedi nodded with a smile, "I just happened to be in the neighborhood."

Ranma knew that wasn't true, "How did you find me?" It was a misnomer that Jedi couldn't tell a lie. Most people didn't understand the Jedi and their ways. They discouraged lying in general but they were capable of it and did so often when necessary or when they were trying to be witty. Kahn had a dry sense of humor and this often included telling little white lies.

"I heard this interesting rumor about a bounty hunter from the outer rim that uses a lightsaber," Kahn said. "It is a weapon, not just anyone can easily use. It requires training, and use of the Force, especially if it is used to deflect blaster fire." Ranma had a good idea where he heard that "rumor" from. A certain diminutive spice smuggler.

Ranma shrugged, "I've seen lightsabers on the black market, could have been used by anybody."

"Let's see it," Nino held out his hand. Ranma sighed and handed the weapon over. The Jedi twirled it in his hand a few times then handed it back.

"Nice balance," he complimented him. "An unusual design though, I've never seen it before."

"It's based on a hilt for a weapon that's famous on my planet," Ranma put the lightsaber back in place of concealment. He had designed his lightsaber to mimic the hilt of a samurai sword.

Nino nodded, "Speaking of which, have you ever been back there? Your homeworld that is?"

Ranma shook his head, "Why? Pops was all the family I ever knew and he's gone. I don't even know if I have a mother, for all I know she's dead so why should I go back. I don't know anyone else there either."

"Am I in some kind of trouble?" he had to ask the Jedi.

Master Kahn pulled a datapad out from his robes and slid across the table to him, "That depends on what you call trouble." Ranma took up the datapad and began scanning the contents. It contained a dossier of pictures and names of people, he recognized most of them. There were twenty-five different people on the list.

"I know of or have met most of these people," he said. "They're some of the worst scum of the galaxy and that's me being nice. What is this about?"

Master Kahn nodded, "It is a job...and an opportunity."

"An opportunity for what?" Ranma asked him and pushed the datapad back to him.

Nino shook his head and slid the pad back to him, "For closure and perhaps even some redemption. These people are Sith sympathizers who gave the Sith Empire aid during the war and the occupation of Coruscant. They've been branded war criminals."

"The occupation left its mark," Master Kahn explained. "Despite the recovery and the formation of a new Republic, the people are still feeling the after-effects of the occupation. There have been demands for the Jedi to hunt down war criminals still on the loose in the galaxy."

"But, revenge is not the way of the Jedi," Ranma said, quoting what he knew about their philosophy.

Master Kahn nodded his head, "Not vengeance...justice. Public trials of known war criminals will go a long way towards putting the people at ease."

"And, I came to you because you have quite the reputation for pulling off the impossible and for bringing your bounties in alive." Master Kahn smiled.

Ranma laughed, "And I'm a former Sith who can use the Force."

"I know why you're doing this," the Jedi look around the room. "Why you work as a bounty hunter, out here in the backend of space. You feel like you need to give back to the galaxy for all the things you did while under the influence of the Dark Side."

"The Sith are gone," Kahn continued, Ranma didn't flinch away when the Jedi reach over the table to put his hand on the shoulder. "You resisted the influence of the dark side, you freed yourself from its grip and came back into the light, yet you still blame yourself for the things you've done."

He did have blood on his hands. He didn't kill those people on Coruscant, he saved them, but before that, he did terrible things. He killed people in the name of the Sith. He killed Jedi and non-Jedi alike. He fought in battles, shot down ships, cut down and/or enslaved civilians.

He was a Monster.

"We have forgiven you," Master Kahn told him. "But you still haven't forgiven yourself."

"There are no timetables, bring them back in whatever order you choose," said the Jedi Master. "These people are the last remnants of the Sith's legacy. If you really want to pay the galaxy back what you owe, bringing an end to that legacy is your surest path to redemption."

"Ok, I'll do it."

 **OooooooooooooooooooooO**

 **To be continued...**


End file.
